Badgerys Creek: no airport

c. 1999

Donated by William McInnes

Museum of Australian Democracy collection

This badge was worn to protest against the proposed development of a second airport for Sydney, at Badgerys Creek in western Sydney.

With the growth of air travel placing increasing pressure on the existing facilities at Kingsford-Smith Airport, successive federal, state, Coalition and Labor governments have attempted to address the need for a second airport for Sydney. Since the 1940s a number of studies have been conducted to determine Sydney’s airport needs, with nineteen possible sites for a second airport considered.

In 1976 a joint Commonwealth-State
government inquiry, known as the Major Airport Needs of Sydney (MANS) group, was convened to recommend a strategy for airport development over the next 25 years, taking into account economic, social, environmental and community concerns. In December 1979 MANS released a preliminary report from its Commonwealth members, with the New South Wales representatives dissociating themselves from the report. The report recommended the construction of a third runway at Kingsford-Smith Airport and identified Badgerys Creek as the site for a second airport if needed in the future. Following continued debate regarding the recommendations, including aircraft noise, land values and environmental concerns, a third runway was constructed at Kingsford-Smith Airport and opened in November 1994.

The debate over a second airport for Sydney has continued. Another report initiated by the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments, Meeting the Future Aviation Needs of Sydney, was released in March 2012.